Only the first of many late nights researching your canoe!
178901 (the 16 is the length) is on a 16' Old Town Guide with a keel installed and originally painted GS (Guides Special) Green. It was delivered to Downers Grove, IL on April 11, 1968. A copy of the build record is attached. Unfortunately, in later years, the build records do not contain as much detail as the earlier ones unless it was an unusual order. Generally, the canoe has white cedar ribs, red cedar planking, open spruce gunwales and probably ash, birch or oak decks, seats and thwarts.
Scans of approximately 210,000 records were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. Additional information about the project to preserve these records is available at
http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/records/ if you want more details. Please join WCHA or make a tax deductable contribution so that services like this can continue. See
http://www.wcha.org/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA,
http://www.wcha.org/wcha_video.php to watch a 10 minute video about WCHA and our programs and
http://www.wcha.org/join.html to join. If you are already a WCHA member, THANK YOU!
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
